


There the Answer Comes

by cometcantdraw



Category: Hatchetfield Universe - Team StarKid, Nightmare Time - Team StarKid
Genre: Angst, Fluff, I’ll update the tags as I go, Multi, NIGHTMARE TIME SPOILERS!, Other, The Black and White (Black Friday), Why?, Witches, because I say so, emma is a witch in this, i do intend to get to it, if you see a tag thats not yet in it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:42:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27897010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cometcantdraw/pseuds/cometcantdraw
Summary: There will be Nightmare Time spoilers!Jean Holloway has spent her life trying to resurrect the mistakes she made in the past. As one of Hatchetfields few remaining witches, she works with PEIP to try and maintain safety within the town, safety away from those who inhabit the Black and White. What would happen when Emma Perkins arrives back in Hatchetfield, after the possibly not so accidental death of her sister, and gets wrapped up in the tiny town's Witches, Demons and secrets.
Relationships: Becky Barnes/Tom Houston, Paul Matthews/Emma Perkins, Xander Lee/John McNamara
Comments: 8
Kudos: 9





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hi hello, this is the prologue to something I’m currently working on but if I don’t finish it then this will become a one shot, does that make sense?  
> I do plan on writing more of this (hence the summary) but just in case my motivation runs out I’m posting what I have so far.  
> The tags will be added to and the ratings may change because again, I haven’t finished yet, sorry for rambling here’s the prologue of There the Answer Comes.

The Lords sat at their table. 

The rebel lay at their feet.

Wood scraped across chequered tiling as second brother rose from his seat. His long face contorted into a cruel, twisted grin as he snarled at the one who betrayed him. Tinky chuckled.

"It's funny, really its hilarious" he spat, his voice laced with malice. The Rebel looked up at her tormenter, her old friend, and fear began to settle behind her steely glare. "You really thought we'd let you get away with what you did? Do you remember nothing we taught you?!"

"Shut it, Tinky, lets face it, you guys are fucked. I don't care what you do to me, hell, PEIP will be here any minute now anyway, but please, just let her go."

Tinky threw a glance towards the corner at the pawn squirming, desperately trying to break free of her woven copper bindings. "Oh we'll let her go,,, maybe. But first there's the matter of you, whatever are we going to do with you?" The pawn cried out to her mentor, working harder against the restraints.

"Shhhh" Nibblenephim raised a finger to the abnormally large mouth on his face, the pawn fell silent, unable to speak. "Insufferable prick," Nibblenephim snickered, "her sister was the same, her mother was the same, they're all the same from that family, it's in their blood." Tears cascaded down the cheeks of the pawn.

"Enough Nibbly, now back to the real problem at hand" the lords once again drew their attention to the rebel. Tinky moved first, flicking his wrist. This rebel fell back, her eyes glazing over. The goat faced monster snickered, as the rebel was forced to relive the all the years of pain, the years off suffering, "she deserves it" he thought. Pokey rose from his seat and paced quietly over to the writhing figure of the rebel, whispering in her ear. She clamped her hands to her ears as the deafeningly loud cacophony of music erupted in her mind.

Off to the side the pawn desperately clawing harder at the rope trying to reach her mentor, before Wiggly waved a hand and she fell limp, blood falling steadily down her face from the huge gash now on her forehead. The lords advanced on the rebel, fuelled by vengeful spite. Distantly, rapid footsteps could be heard drawing closer but alas, they would get there on time. They’d waited for this moment for forty-five years, and they weren’t about to let her get away again. 

For a moment everything became silent.

The rebel then screamed.

And the lords laughed.


	2. 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hannah talks with the tree people,  
> PEIP receives some abnormal energy readings,  
> and Emma returns to the place she thought she'd never see again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I said this at the beginning of last chapter but Ima say it again: Nightmare Time Spoilers!!  
> Anyways chapter 1,, *Esther voice* here we gooooooooooo  
> (also can you tell how awful I am at coming up with titles for things?)
> 
> Also the end notes are doing funky things, and idk how to fix that so we're just going to ignore it (as in the prologue end notes are on here)

The crackle of a beer can being opened cut through the silence of the trailer as Hannah Foster emerged from her room. "What do you want from me now?" Pamela Foster sighed, the annoyance of being disturbed, evident in her snide tone.

The trailer was small, dirty and it reeked of alcohol. The chill of the late Hatchetfield autumn seeped through the thin walls, the trail of sunlight emerging from over the tops of the witchwood doing little to combat the cold. Hannah had lived here her whole life along with her sister, who was currently at work, she was the only family member bringing in money; and her mother, who was slumped down on the moth eaten sofa, swooning over some news reporter Hannah hadn't bothered to learn the name of.

"Returning, new beginnings" the young girl voiced. Pamela raised an eyebrow. "Somethings coming" the girl added desperation

"Cut the cryptic bullshit Naners, I'm on a date here so I'd appreciated it if you got out of my hair." The woman snapped exasperatedly. She flinched at the outburst, inching her bedroom door closed. She pulled on the worn, black boots that had once belonged to her sister. Hannah presumed Lex had stolen them from the mall she worked at. Tripping over the bottom step onto the grass, the knees of her jeans became soaked with dew. Murmuring some curse she'd picked up from Lex, she got up and scurried of towards the witchwood.

Having dropped out of school a few years back Hannah had spent nearly all her time in these woods. She'd always felt drawn to it as a child, and not in a way that most kids might be, those longing for adventure or escape. They'd called her strange when she'd spend all day alone with the wind, crazy when she told them the trees were her friends, insane when she spoke to them. The crunch of dead leaves beneath her feet faded out as she entered the clearing. She'd come to this clearing every day for the 6 days, the energy here had become stronger since them, the voices louder, the forest was restless.

They were mourning, that much she could gather, it had been this way for about a week now, but they weren't yet ready to share the details. Hannah moved to sit by the tree at the top of the clearing. She was the oldest. That was the first thing Hannah learned about the clearing.

"She's returning home today, somethings coming, they're planning something" the tree spoke.

"That's what Webby was saying," the young girl mused, "who is it, who's coming?" Hannah asked, contentedly taking in the familiarity of the woods as she tried to make sense of their words.

"One of us, like you. She's Allegras." The girl glanced across the clearing to the aforementioned Allegra. She was much sicklier looking, her branches hung low, and her leaves deprived of colour, she was sadder than usual. Hannah had been told the tales of the time before they were planted, before the Hatchetmen came. Allegra survived the longest, longer than the other two at least. The Hatchetmen had a hard time catching her, she hid right in plain sight. Willabella didn't hide her jealousy well.

"I have to go now, Lexi's buying me lunch from the mall today, sorry I had to leave so soon." As Hannah stood up, something changed.

The wind suddenly lay dormant against the forest floor, settling amongst the leaves and the woods held their breath, whoever it was, they'd arrived.

It was a normal day at PEIP HQ. General John McNamara has arrived 39 minutes early for work, which although by his standards was 6 minutes late, he was still able to have his morning coffee and check up on everything that needed to be checked on before all the other agents arrived. 

PEIP was currently trying to neutralise a shift in the energy levels. This was relatively common, the threads of the fabric between Hatchetfield and the Black and White weren't as tightly woven as they were elsewhere. Occasionally small pieces of the Black and White would fall through the fibres and it was PEIPS job to retrieve and deal with them. The readings were often slightly wrong, after all the machine was old and PEIP didn't exactly have the budget to buy new one, it wasn't a big deal though, the energy levels hadn't gotten any higher than 300 since Wilbur-

Pulling himself from that train of thought, John turned down the hall and almost crashed straight into Colonel Schaeffer. 

"Holy shit" John yelled, before registering his (exhausted looking) friend in front of him, "Hi Schaeffer!" John said, laughing as the shock wore off. Schaeffer kept a steady deadpan glare. "Ooo someone's grumpy this morning" he added before Schaeffer huffed and walked past him down the corridor. 

Wondering what'd gotten into Schaeffer this morning he set off towards his office, making a quick coffee detour on the way. John didn't really have much to do today so he decided he'd make a start on the file inspection, being a top secret military base, PEIP had to carry these out monthly as a safety precaution. 

After around 30 minutes, most of which John had spent procrastinating, Xander walked into his office.

"Xander, to what do I owe the pleasure?" John inquired, putting on a very exaggerated mock British accent. Xander chuckled.

"Jean's coming in today, says she'll be here in 20" Xander looked up at his husband. It was John's turn to chuckle now.

"Sure does have a habit of showing up unannounced doesn't she" he paused, "did she say why she was coming?"

"Negative" the Lieutenant replied. It was true, Jean did do this a lot. Ever since she'd officially retired from PEIP 12 years ago, Jean would often show up for impromptu meetings. Not that anyone minded, after all, she was generally well liked and she had been one of PEIP's cofounders. Her and Wilbur-

" Xan, mind giving me a hand with the data check?"

Xander agreed and they spent the next few minutes working away quietly, the sound of typing filling the otherwise silent room. By the time Jean arrived, Xander had been called on to the tech lab, John caught something about the energy levels in the brief walkie talkie conversation but thought not much of it given the readings from the past week. 

John hurried to his and Jean's normal meeting room, and as expected, found her sat comfortable at the head of the table. "Hey Jonnie" she greeted him as he sat down. Her hair was in its usual 80s inspired updo, her hair just as red as when he'd met her all those years ago when he first joined PEIP. 

"Hi Jean, is everything ok?" John asked, pulling his seat further under the table.

"Something's coming John" John went to question but Jean cut him off, "the energy, she's one of us" John fell silent. As far as he knew the 'us' that Jean was referring to was comprised of four people, two of whom PEIP had tabs on, one of whom had been lost to the Black and White long before Wilbur, and the other was sat in the room with him. There weren't meant to be more. As if she could read his mind Jean spoke up.

"Their family must've gone undetected but it doesn't make sense with the family trees from the book" They both fell silent, trying to wrap their heads around the situation.

"Wait but how does this explain the readings over the past few days?" John asked, breaking the silence.

"Did you know Jane Perkins?" an air of sadness weighed down her voice, John did recognise that name. Before he could question further the loud shriek of an alarm rang through the base. They'd only ever heard that alarm once, when Wilbur-

The two of them both stood up and sprinted down to the tech lab. The General threw open the door, Xander and a few of the tech scientists were all shouting to each other over the piercing alarm as they frantically moved about the room.

That's when John's eyes fell on the energy machine, the orange line on the slightly grainy screen had shot higher than it had in 12 years. John and Jean met each others eyes as the alarm stopped. The orange line fell as Jean whispered: "The're here."

"It hadn't hit her yet, that she was returning to her hometown, the one she'd spend the first 18 years of her life trying to leave, the one she hadn't seen in ten years. The past week had passed in a haze of numbness. Raw throated screaming met by the deaf ears of the universe. No number of tears would bring back her sister.

Jane

That also hadn't sunk in. The fact that her sister wouldn't be there when she returned. Jane had begged her countless times, Emma knew how badly Jane had wanted her in her life. At first she declined out of anger. How dare Jane ask her to return to that hellhole she knew her younger sister despised. Eventually she just became too stubborn to accept. But now all that was left was a rotting hole of grief in Emma's chest, poisoning her blood with guilt and regret.

It had taken her no less than two hours to pack up her life in Guatemala after Tom called. Emma grimaced at the thought, ten whole years of her life, all able to be collected into two hours. It made her wonder what she'd been doing there all that time, she'd almost forgotten why she even left in the first place.

She couldn't tell you how many days it had been since the call, they'd all meshed into a torrent of emptiness. She felt nauseous as she stepped off the plane into the Clivesdale airport, part of her was screaming to hop on a plane straight back to Guatemala but she couldn't. Nobody was waiting for her, not that she was expecting anybody to. The only person in the tiny town she could stand was now dead. 

By the time she reached the Clivesdale end of the Nantucket bridge she was already freezing. Despite the bright glare of the sun, the icy wind was still vicious, and it wasn't like any of the clothes she owned in Guatemala were exactly suitable for this weather. Emma flinched as a car whizzed past where she stood and she started to make her way down the thin footpath strip of the bridge.

She groaned as she felt a slight headache begin to build behind her eyes, the reflection of the sun on the restless water of the lake was blindingly bright. With every step closer to the town she took the pounding in her head only grew. Cursing internally she soldiered on until the pain hit it's peak.

She stepped off the bridge and the pain stopped.

She was back in Hatchetfield.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Incase i forget to clarify this later on:  
> Miss Holloway is named Jean  
> and Schaeffer is named Georgia

**Author's Note:**

> I’m sorry for how short that was but again, I’m planning to write more of this.  
> The title is from the song Good Lady from 35mm which I really recommend listening to if you haven’t already  
> And thank you to Jay (@robertstanion) for helping me plan all this out 😅  
> 


End file.
